Striving To Live The God-Centered Life by Terry Embke

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-It Begins At Our Salvation!

Eternal salvation begins for us the moment we are “justified”! Though we are born “…dead in trespasses & sins…” we are made alive through Jesus’ substitutionary atonement, on the cross, on our behalf! And, because the sinless One paid the price for sin—that sinners should have paid—God is LEGALLY “just” to pass over our sin and grant us salvation. That’s why we say we are “justified.” Here’s a great way to remember what it means to be “justified”— “Just as If I’d never sinned!” Next, after God justifies us, He moves into our “house” & He begins to “clean house”; or, to “sanctify” us by the power of His indwelling Spirit.

-Sin Loses It’s Power!

Sin no longer has power over us! By God’s power, sin can be defeated! This is what it means to be “sanctified.” And, God is glorified in our “sanctification” also! He grows us spiritually! He matures us in our faith! Here’s what the Apostle Paul wrote, in his letter, to the Church of Ephesus: “In Him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of His glory” Ephesians 1:11-12. In Christ we’ve obtained an inheritance! It’s an inheritance that has been predestined to us; but, we don’t have it yet!

-Receiving Our Inheritance!

Now, someone has to die before an inheritance can be received, right? Usually, someone else dies & we receive an inheritance as a result! In regard to our eternal inheritance, in heaven, however, WE have to die to obtain it, don’t we? So, Paul seems to be referring to this time—RIGHT NOW—the time in between our salvation & the time we will inherit it! When Daniel was taken captive, by the Babylonians, they intended to break him from his faith in Yahweh, in part, by a diet that was offered in sacrifice to their Babylonian gods. “But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine” Daniel 1:8. In other words, Daniel was “sanctified” or “set apart” for God as he faced this decision! And, God is glorified as we grow in our sanctification because He’s doing the work in us! We submit to His work! But our spiritual growth is His work!

-Work Out Your Salvation!

There’s an incredibly interesting scripture related, to this subject, in Philippians chapter 2. I’d encourage you to memorize it; or, at least remember where it’s found: “Work out your own salvation,” Paul tells the Church of Philippi, “with fear and trembling. For it is God who is working in you, enabling you both to desire and to work out His good purpose” Philippians 2:12-13. There’s no mistaking that God commands us to “work out your own salvation.” That’s an imperative! We are commanded to grow, in our salvation; or, to be sanctified! But, God actually does the work! He “enables” us & gives us the “desire” to grow in our faith! The flesh cannot produce a sanctified life! It appears, that our brokenness and depravity is so thorough that we can’t even muster the “desire” to grow up spiritually! God gets the glory for our sanctification! All of it!

-Who Else Would Deserve It?

There’s a wonderful passage, in the Old Testament, that relates to the Glory that God deserves. Here’s what King David says: “Give to the Lord, O families of the peoples, Give to the Lord glory and strength. Give to the Lord the glory due His name; Bring an offering, and come before Him. Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness!” 1 Chronicles 16:28-29. In my previous post, I talked about how God’s Glory is a really big deal to God! And, rightly so! David is also inspired by God’s Holy Spirit to declare God’s “strength.” Declare the Lord’s “…glory and STRENGTH…” I find it interesting that David would point to God’s “strength” in the context of His “glory”! Why?

-Let’s Dig Deeper!

Whenever we ask that question “why”—-of a biblical text—it ought to serve as our cue to dig deeper! To study the verses surrounding it! So, if you look back at the preceding verses, David says that, “…YAHWEH is feared above all gods…” (little “g”) because “…all the gods of the peoples are IDOLS…”; and, here’s the CONTRAST—”…BUT, the LORD made the heavens…”; end v.27, “…STRENGTH & joy are in His place.” So, compared to false gods, YAHWEH is all-powerful; or, OMNIPOTENT! It is to His Glory that, by His STRENGTH, He created the heavens! So, DECLARE His STRENGTH! Someone once asked me that old philosopher’s question: “Can God create a rock so big that He can’t lift it?” I think the answer is “YES” He can create that rock! And, “YES” HE CAN LIFT IT!

-Glory In God’s “Name”!

It’s to His Glory that He is able to do anything and everything! Then, David tells us to declare God’s Glory in His NAME! There’s really 2 thoughts in that phrase, “…give to the Lord the glory due His name…” The 1st thought relates to His “NAME.” There’s a lot going on with a person’s NAME—if I say the name, “ADOLPH HITLER”, that name evokes thoughts related to his CHARACTER, doesn’t it? That name conjures up thoughts like dictator and anti-Semite and murderer! The name of God, however, brings to mind thoughts of His love, mercy, grace, benevolence, etc. All that’s in His “NAME”; or, His character! Those traits describe who He is! He is just & righteous in everything He does! So, declare the glory related to His NAME!

-Stealing God’s Glory!

The 2nd thought, in that phrase, “…give to the Lord the glory due His name…” is this: He ALONE DESERVES all Glory! The Apostle Paul wrote: “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be Glory forever” Romans 11:36. He’s saying that, in fact, God HAS all Glory! He alone had all glory before creation, right? There was nothing else until He created it! So, any glory that the creation has was given to it BY GOD! The “glory” of a sunset is God’s Glory! He gave the sunset it’s “glory”! It’s because of God’s Glory that He hates pride—”pride” is man’s attempt to STEAL God’s Glory! Whenever we’re PROUD of our work we’re stealing glory from God who gave us the gifts & talents to do the work we do! Pride is acting like you didn’t receive it from God! Any praise we receive must be redirected to God for His Glory!

-How Do You Define Worship?

Ask how the Bible defines worship, and, you may be surprised how wide & inclusive is the answer that’s given! Many of us perceive worship to be limited to this narrow part of a church service we call singing! For others, you grew up in a tradition where “worship” consisted of elaborate prayers spoken in the King James language—with all the “THEE’s” and “THOU’s”—very ritualistic & done in a “sanctuary” with stained-glass windows, lighted candles, incense & old classical sacred music with a pastor wearing a long, flowing robe! Each of those things can possibly contribute to authentic worship, provided the focus is on God & not some kind of warm, fuzzy, religious feeling you get from all those “accessories.”

-Is Worship An Activity?

Genuine worship is not an ACTIVITY, it’s an ATTITUDE of the heart—originating in your inner being; or, the REAL YOU; and, it changes your life! I guess that pretty wide and inclusive, isn’t it? Real, genuine worship impacts your entire life because you’re occupied with God, your Creator! Worship is being occupied with God’s character, with who He is—His love, His grace, His mercy, His kindness, His benevolence, His justice, His righteousness! It’s too praise Him for being a Good Father & a Faithful Friend & an indwelling Spirit who transforms us into His likeness as we’re engaged in genuine worship & reflect on His Beauty!

-Worship Re-Forms Us!

In other words, worship will gradually re-form us into His likeness—we become more loving, gracious, merciful, kind, benevolent, just & righteous! We become better fathers and mothers! We become more faithful friends all because we’re focused & occupied with God in worship! Romans 12:1-2 is one passage of Scripture that has recently arrested my attention because of what it has to say about worship! After breaking down the Gospel, of Christ, in the first 11 chapters, the Apostle Paul concludes: “Therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your spiritual worship…” I had never considered this a definition of worship! But, in fact, it is!

-Paul’s Worship Definition!

Paul is defining “worship” for us! Look at it again: ! He begins with a command: “…present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God…” And, than he says, “…THIS IS YOUR SPIRITUAL WORSHIP.” If you’ve even been curious about a good Biblical definition of “worship”; well, here it is! Why is that significant? Because we need to know HOW to worship God rightly; or, He will reject and dismiss our worship! I’m referring to the authority of God’s Word over every area of our lives! The Scriptures are not only inspired, they’re authoritative! In other words, we don’t have the right to define “worship”—or, anything else for that matter—differently than God does in His Word. Paul is saying that genuine, spiritual worship impacts us & profoundly changes the way that we use our bodies—we sacrifice our bodies to please Him!

(NOTE: This Continues A Series Of Posts On Daniel’s Life)

-Don’t Lick Frozen Flagpoles!

One of the most hilarious scenes in the movie, A Christmas Story, occurs when one of the characters sticks their tongue on a frozen flagpole because they were “triple dog dared” to do so! The reason that scene is so funny is because we’ve all been there, haven’t we? Licking a frozen flagpole is like some weird right of passage in elementary school. And, it wouldn’t make any difference if they put signs up all over campus— “DON’T LICK FROZEN FLAGPOLES”—kids are going to do it! When they complain that the top layer of skin, on their tongue, has been ripped off, we tell them, “You should have known better!” They knew the consequences! They’d observed it in their foolish classmates! When they complain, for the next week, that it hurts to talk, that it hurts to eat, that it hurts to do anything with their tongue, we tell them, “You should have known better!”

-Pride Always Gets Us In Trouble!

That’s almost exactly what Daniel says to the Babylonian king as we open chapter 5 of the book, of Scripture, that bears his name. Here we’re introduced to King Belshazzar. Almost 70 years have passed since Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael & Azzariah were exiled from Jerusalem to Babylon (Daniel chapter 1); and, it’s been some 25 years since the end of chapter 4 when we see King Nebuchadnezzar become a worshipper of Yahweh. The historical record fills in some of the details—we know that it was Nebuchadnezzar’s son, Nabonidus, who followed him to the throne of Babylon; and, it was his son, Belshazzar, who succeeded him & became the central figure here in the 5th chapter of Daniel’s story. We don’t know why; but, the Holy Spirit inspired Daniel to bypass the life of Nabonidus completely; and, all but the last day of Belshazzar’s life! Here’s what else we know—outside the massive walls of Babylon, the Medo-Persian army had surrounded the city. In his pride, King Belshazzar threw this huge drinking party for all his nobles to show them that there was no reason to fear the army outside the walls (ch. 5:1-4). Someone has said that “Pride is the evil response of sinful men to the grace of God”; and, King Belshazzar’s response was evil!

-The King Who Should Have Known Better

He had heard about the grace that God had shown his grandfather, Nebuchadnezzar; but, his pride led him into the deeper sins of idolatry & blasphemy. And, as Daniel rehashed the details, of his grandfather’s story, with him (vs. 18-21) he concluded: “But you his successor, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, even though you knew all this. Instead, you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven…”(vs. 22-23) “You knew all this,” Daniel told him, “You should have known better!” And, we should know better! God’s patience can be exhausted! We make much of God’s mercy, grace & patience with us; and, we should because God is loving, merciful, gracious & patient with us! But, we dare not ignore the justice & judgment of God! We do so—like Belshazzar did—at our own peril!